VA furloughs 7,000 employees, closes regional offices

Oct. 8, 2013

Veterans at the Charleston Vet Center in West Virginia greet Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, center, in 2010. Shinseki has said he's making it a top priority to tackle the veterans disability claims backlog, but the government shutdown has tabled any overtime for claims processors, who remain on the job. / Bob Bird / Associated Press

"All public access to VBA regional offices and facilities will be suspended," said Victoria Dillon, Veterans Affairs Department spokeswoman.

Walk-ins and phone calls to regional offices are common to get status reports on benefits and to seek help. Voluntary officers from veterans organizations who help file claims are located in many regional offices, so access to them could be restricted.

While phones won't be answered at regional offices, most toll-free numbers where veterans can get help with benefits remain open. One exception is the GI Bill call center, which is closed and won't reopen until the VA receives money.

The Veterans Benefits Administration has more than 21,000 employees, most of whom remain on the job. Of the 332,000 total VA employees, fewer than 15,000 are subject to furloughs during lapses in appropriations, according to department's contingency planning. The bulk of the employees exempt from furlough are involved in medical care.

Additionally, 2,754 employees of the VA's Office of Information Technology were furloughed Monday. Veterans might not see an immediate effect, but all development of VA software will stop, including work on the Veterans Benefits Management System that is a key part of plans for eliminating the claims backlog by the end of 2015.

Another shoe could drop soon as VA officials warn that a government shutdown ending in the last two weeks of October could result in delays in Nov. 1 benefits payments, including disability compensation, GI Bill living stipends and dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors. No firm date has been given for when the VA would run out of money.

Benefits claims continue to be processed and new claims are being accepted. However, Dillon warned the pace of processing is slowing.

"VA's ability to make significant progress reducing the disability claims backlog is hampered without the increased productivity gained from overtime for claims processors," she said. Mandatory overtime "has helped VA significantly reduce the disability claims backlog by more than 190,000 claims over the last six months."

As of Monday, 725,165 benefits claims were pending, including 418,711 that the VA considers to be part of the so-called "backlog" because they have been in processing longer than the 125-day goal.

The department had a very modest drop of 304 claims in the total, but it did hit one landmark as the number of pending disability compensation claims fell just below 400,000.

Claims processors have been working a minimum of 20 hours a month of overtime since mid-May. Before the government shut down Oct. 1, the VA had intended to keep mandatory overtime until Nov.16, then switch to voluntary overtime through the end of the calendar year, she said. However, mandatory overtime stopped during the shutdown.

Working extra hours, along with several initiatives to improve claims procedures, resulted in a 30% drop in the claims backlog since March, Dillon said. The VA was processing about 100,000 claims a month.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee wants to question VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on Wednesday about how the VA is operating under a shutdown but it is unclear whether Shinseki will appear.

In a letter requesting Shinseki's testimony, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., committee chairman, complains that Congress feels like it has been left in the dark.

"As you should know, I and others have sought greater clarity regarding shutdown-related efforts on VA over the last week, yet we have received no answers from your department," Miller said in an Oct. 4 letter.

Miller said he expects Shinseki to address the timing and scope of any interruptions in veterans' benefits, the effect on claims processing of the loss of money for overtime and why the VA has stopped providing briefings for Congress if the people who would provide the briefings still are working.